Martin O’Neill will hone Euro 2016 squad from end of season games

Republic of Ireland manager wants to see as many players as possible

Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill will use a series of end-of-season friendlies to further assess the depth of his squad ahead of the start of the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Ireland will play Turkey at the Aviva Stadium on May 25th and are yet to formally confirm a second outing against Italy at Craven Cottage six days later as well as proposed games against Costa Rica and Portugal in the United States in early June.

However, whatever fixtures are eventually finalised, O’Neill will spend the time he has together with his players honing his squad for the start of the qualifying campaign in September.

He told Sky Sports News: “We have a couple of friendly matches at the end of the season. There’s a possibility at this minute of maybe even a few extra games, but that has not been confirmed yet.

“But a bit like Scotland in that sense, we are concentrating really on trying to implement some sort of a plan, trying to see as much of the players as we possibly can.

“This period we will have at the end of the season, while not ideal for players, is absolutely fine for us and of course, it’s an opportunity to see as many players as possible.”

O’Neill and assistant Roy Keane have been in charge since replacing Giovanni Trapattoni and his staff in November last year, recording a 3-0 home win over Latvia and a 0-0 draw in Poland before a 2-1 defeat by Serbia in Dublin earlier this month.

But they know the big tests will come once they return to competitive action, and the manager has been given plenty of food for thought by what he has seen so far.

O’Neill said: “We have had three games – the two games in November-time were in quick succession, at home to Latvia, which we would expect to win anyway and we did; the draw in Poland was fine, and although for long periods against Serbia, I thought we played very well and possibly could have won the game, we lost the match. We have got plenty to discuss.”

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